Country Casserole

In my family, if you die, get sick, have a car accident, have a baby, have a potluck, have a family reunion, have a picnic, get bad news, get hungry, or get last minute dinner guests…You get a Country Casserole!

This is our standard family casserole. It shows up everywhere! Why? Because we love it! This casserole is quick, easy, filling, great tasting, an inexpensive way to feed a crowd, a complete meal in one, freezes AMAZINGLY well, can be made even MORE easy by using canned chicken when you’re not in the mood to cook chicken ahead of time, and more importantly, its my husband’s personal favorite.

I’m warning you: I never make just one of these casseroles because they freeze so incredibly well. With the effort of a single casserole and just a little more cost wise you can have an extra casserole anytime you need it! I go into some nifty reheating instructions as well as convenient storage instructions for the extra casserole later in this post.

Cook pasta according to package directions and drain. Cover frozen mixed veggies with water and bring that just to a boil, boil for a minute or two, then drain those.

I use about 1 cup of chopped white onion(whatever a medium onion comes to chopped), browned in a small amount of butter (margarine- oil- olive oil) until soft. We don’t like the French Fried onions. It may taste slightly different, but is still fantastic and very easy.

How much uncooked pasta do you use for two cups cooked? You said 2 cups cooked but show cooking it with the vegetables. I love your recipes and have really been enjoying your new book! Thank you for sharing!

It’s 2 cups uncooked 🙂 When a recipe says “2 cups pasta, cooked and drained” it means to measure the pasta before cooking it. If it had said “2 cups cooked pasta” that would mean to measure after it’s cooked. She just showed photos of the entire cooking process. When I make this casserole, I actually measure the pasta by weight and do 1/2 lb, which is the weight of 2 C shell pasta. Different shapes of pasta have different volumes, so 2 C penne is not the same amount as 2 C shells. It’s just more consistent to weigh it if you don’t use small shells.

Christy, I don’t eat chicken, or poultry of any kind. Have you ever tried it without it or is there something else I could use?
I know – I’m weird. About the only meat I’ll eat is ground beef.
Thanks so much for everything.

Not weird at all! I’ve made it meatless before. You can use cream of celery soup (or cream of mushroom, it’s wonderful) in place of the cream of chicken if you don’t want to use that and then I double the veggies and it’s wonderful!

Made this casserole for us last week and we loved it. I used leftover chicken from a whole chicken I had cooked in the crockpot earlier that week. Since there are two of us I baked half of a single batch and froze the other half for a freezer meal for another time. Loved how easy this was to throw together and how versitle it is. Thanks for another great go to recipe Christy.

I have made this SO many times and it is always so good! Even the time I made it for a funeral meal and by mistake left the chicken in the fridge! I made two that day and planned on my family having one. My daughter mentioned she could not see any chicken in it and I said I was sure I put it in there. After supper found the chicken in fridge! Was so embarrassed I took one off without chicken but everyone said it was very tasty without it. I did make the other family a correct one at a later date so they could see how really good it was.

Wow. You were not kidding. I doubled the batch and we have a TON of it. I am going to bag up what we have left in quart freezer bags and freeze it. Hubby going to our lake cabin in Wisconsin soon for a few days and I am sending a few frozen bags up with him to use while he is there so he will have suppers 🙂 I do that with a lot of our food for when I go out of town he has food to heat up or when he goes to the cabin. I will make small quart size bags from suppers and freeze it so I am not standing there making freezer meals all day for when I need meals for him. The kids even loved this one. Even the one that does not like veggies. Definitely a keeper for sure. I used large cans of chicken and added a little mozzarella cheese since I had a 1/2 bag to use up.

I initially discovered this recipe when pregnant with my middle child in 2010. I made a ton of freeze ahead meals and most were awful. This one was so good that it has become a family staple! I now have 3 kids and am laid up after surgery. My husband has been trying to keep up with feeding the family and the look of relief on his face when I told him this was in the freezer is the reason I keep making it!

Bless him, what a wonderful man to try and fill your shoes!! I am so glad that you liked the recipe and that it has come to be so handy for your family. It is one of my all-time favorites for many of the same reasons. I love having a couple on hand for when I have a friend or family member in need of a quick easy meal for their family for whatever reason.

Freezing in plastic bags instead of casserole pans- I love it! Thawing and then pouring into a dish makes this seem fresher somehow than pulling a ready to bake pan from the deep freeze. Just pour into a pan, sprinkle some cheese and bake- LOVE it.

Has anyone tried to turn this into a freezer to crock pot meal, and if so how did it turn out? (I plan on using canned chicken so raw meat will not be an issue)

PS. I made this before for a friend recovering from surgery took some rolls, salad dressing and bagged pre-washed lettuce; her and her kids loved it and her hubby was very appreciative (he was out of hot dogs ;p). Thanks for sharing a great recipe!

I am so sory to hear about your loss of Ginger. I work with your Mom and know how difficult her last few weeks had been. I too have lost many four lggeed friends. AS time goes on your sadness will slowly pass BUT your fond memories will last forever. Just know she is in a better place where dogs sleep on clouds, eat treats abundantly and wait to be united with you once again. Lynn K.

I don’t bake it at all before freezing. I usually just assemble and then spoon each casserole into a gallon zipper seal bag, smooth it flat, and then freeze. This makes it thaw quickly and I can just pour it into my dish and bake 🙂

My family really enjoyed this casserole. We normally don’t eat casseroles but would definitely make this again. The only thing we did different is use a large can of soup and more milk. My husband , a former chef, heated the soup on the stove and used the milk to get it to the right consistancy. Then he stirred in the rest of the ingredients and then poured into the baking dish. We then topped with cheese and only had to bake for about 10 minutes. . Thanks for the recipe!

Hello. My family loves this recipe of yours!! Question: Have you ever tried using ham rather than chicken? We need to use up the last of the ham from Christmas and I’m looking for ways to bury it in a casserole since we’re all HAMMED OUT. Have you tried ham in this?

I’m an Alabama girl living in Pennsylvania and another Alabama friend brought this to me when I had my first baby. I’ve been thinking about it since then and can’t wait to make it this week! It was perfect. Thanks!

Thanks so much for this ecipe Christy! Sounds delicious! Have used the disposable pans before to freeze in, but I love the idea of using a freezer bag! I’m having knee replacement in September, so this will be great for my husband to fix when I can’t cook.

What a wonderful casserole! I thought I had tried every casserole ever invented, but this one is the best and I will be making it often. I am so cold today and this was fast using a rotisserie chicken from Vons and it is so darn pretty! I cannot wait to try topping with potato chips and adding beans or other lovely things to it just for fun, but the BEST is the recipe you have posted. I’ve printed it out, saved it in the family cookbook and pinned it in Pinterest. I don’t EVER want to lose this recipe! Thank you for posting!

I tried this last night with my husband and one of his friends. The friend had 3 helpings and my husband and I had two! So it was a huge success! I did add more milk as we like things soupy rather than dry, and it was terrific! I wasn’t exactly sure if the pasta measurmnt was dry or after cooking so I went with dry. It worked! Will definitely make it again! Next on my list is the Strawberry cake with cream cheese icing! Looks wonderful and strawberries are fresh right now!

Hi Christy,
Here is a great big thank you for an amazing casserole recipe.I pretty much followed your instructions,just adding some sour cream to the chicken soup.I covered the casserole with lots of cheese and the onions and put it all in the oven for 30 minutes.It was super delicious and my lunch guests were simply blown away.I have sent everyone home with your recipe.I don’t often make casseroles,but,boy..am I ever glad I found yours on pinterest.
This email is coming from a Canadian neighbour in White Rock,British Columbia.
You made a lot of people very happy today.
Thanks so very much,
Sonia

Made this tonight and we really enjoyed it! I like my casseroles kind of creamy and this was a little on the thick side for me. Could I add another can of soup or do something to make it a little creamier? The flavors were delicious!